A difficult obstacle associated with the exploration and production of oil and gas is management of significant ocean currents. These currents can produce vortex-induced vibration (VIV) and/or large deflections of tubulars associated with drilling and production. VIV can cause substantial fatigue damage to the tubular or cause suspension of drilling due to increased deflections. Both helical strakes and fairings can provide sufficient VIV suppression.
Helical strakes and fairings are both popular VIV suppression devices. However, the effectiveness of helical strakes and fairings can be substantially degraded due to the presence of marine growth or other rough elements on its external surface. Presently, the technologies that are applied to prevent marine growth fouling (also known as “anti-fouling” methods) consist of paints or coatings that are applied by spraying the material onto the (helical strake or fairing) surface.
Present anti-fouling methods are expensive and often have lifetimes that are insufficient for oil and gas platform tubulars that must resist fouling for periods of 30-50 years or more. In addition, these paints and coatings require multiple applications so that the manufacturing can be increased substantially. Finally, some present methods impose substantial surface roughness onto the strake from particles in the coating, which partially defeats the purpose of using an anti-fouling coating.